15 February 2011, Wellington

Nature conservation group Forest & Bird is concerned that high country tenure review for two properties in the Mackenzie Country will scupper collaborative work in the region that has just started.

Two high country pastoral leases are currently proposed for tenure review - Maryburn Station and The Wolds. The Government - through Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) - has released proposals to freehold large areas of these two farms.

Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Nicola Vallance is calling on the government to halt these Mackenzie Country tenure reviews to give the government-backed Mackenzie Sustainable Futures Trust a chance to come up with solutions to land-use conflict in the area.

“Forest & Bird wants to be part of a truly collaborative effort that comes up with creative solutions to problems in the Mackenzie Country.

“It doesn't make sense to set up a working group to decide on a sustainable future for the Mackenzie Basin and at the same time run a tenure review that would see thousands of hectares of Crown-owned land privatised for development, on an ad hoc basis, with no input from that group.

“It is not possible to say at this stage what the outcome of any forum may be but Forest & Bird is hopeful that the collaborative process will come up with solutions that all parties can live with.”

Vallance says collaboration means acting in good faith. “The Government is a key stakeholder through tenure review, so it has a responsibility to make sure the collaborative process can influence any proposed privatisation of the Mackenzie,” she says.

ENDS

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